In the presidential election of 1796, Adams, on the ticket of the Federalist Party, defeated the Democratic-Republican nominee Thomas Jefferson and became the second President of the United States. He broke with Hamilton and the ultra-Federalists, leaving him in a weak position as president. He lost to Jefferson in a bitter rematch in known 1800. His presidency was marked by the Quasi-War between the United States and France, the XYZ Affair, the founding of the U.S. Navy, the passage of Alien and Sedition Acts, building a new national army, and an unexpected peace with France; as he left office he appointed numerous judges,most notably John Marshall as Chief Justice.

Adams founded one of the great families in American history, with numerous politicians, diplomats and historians. Adams reputation was long in the doldrums, since Franklin quipped in 1783: "He means well for his Country, and is always an honest Man, often a Wise One, but sometimes and in some things, absolutely out of his senses." Historians Much admire his independence, patriotism and realism, but his self-righteousness and vanity represented a critical weakness.

Early life and political career

John Adams was born on October 30, 1735, in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts. His father was also named John, his mother was Susanna Adams and one of his sons was John Quincy Adams, a later president in his own right.

Adams attended Harvard and, after a stint as a schoolmaster in Worchester, Massachusetts, took up the practice of law in Boston. In 1765, Adams wrote tracts such as the Braintree Instructions, which argued against the British Stamp Act. His cousin, Samuel Adams, attracted far more notice during the Stamp Act crisis, leading demonstrations and using far more colorful language (there would later be some confusion regarding John and Samuel. When John was sent to France by the Continental Congress on a diplomatic mission, the French initially thought he was the "famous Adams," that is, Samuel Adams).

In the wake of the Boston Massacre in 1770, Boston's leaders prevailed on Adams to represent the British troops. He did so, arguing that all Englishmen deserved a vigorous defense. He pleaded self defense, and won the case. He argued that Boston would be better served if many guilty persons escaped unpunished than if one innocent one suffered. It was, he maintained, of more importance to the community “that innocence should be protected, than...that guilt should be punished.”

In 1774, after the crisis brought on by the Boston Tea Party and the resulting Coercive Acts, Adams became an advocate for American independence. Adams was one of Massachusetts’s representatives to the Continental Congress. He attracted the notice of other delegates at the Second Continental Congress as one of the first to argue for independence.

Declaring Independence

Adams served a Massachusetts delegate in both the First and the Second Continental Congresses. He was a leading advocate of declaring independence and in June 1776 was assigned, along with Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, to draft a Declaration of Independence. Adams realized that Jefferson was a much more gifted writer, and the document was composed mostly by the Virginian. However, Adams did have some input, looking over drafts of the document. Jefferson later remarked that Adams was the Declaration of Independence's "pillar of support on the floor of Congress, its ablest advocate and defender." Though Adams in principle opposed the practice of slavery, he remained silent when Jefferson was pressured to strike out a provision in the Declaration that condemned slavery. Indeed, he never took a major role in opposing slavery, unlike most Federalists.

Diplomat

Adams served the Continental Congress as a diplomat, remaining abroad for a decade, from 1778 to 1788. Originally posted to France, he served in Paris with Benjamin Franklin. Franklin felt that Adams' blunt style and lack of understanding of European diplomatic process harmed the American effort. After France, Adams was posted to the Netherlands, where he secured a large war loan to help the patriot cause. Adams chaired the American delegation that drew up the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which formally ended the American Revolution.

Vice President (1789-1797)

In the first Presidential election under the new Constitution, Adams was recalled from being ambassador to Great Britain to serve as Washington's Vice-President. The role of Vice President was not an easy one for Adams; he told Abigail, "My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived". His only job was to serve as presiding officer ("president") of the Senate, in which his only duty was to cast tie-breaking votes. Even in this role, he was far out of place; he was so flustered at the Senate's first meeting that he asked their advice about whether he should sit or stand on Washington's entrance. (This was later seized upon by Democratic-Republicans eager to cast Adams as an aristocrat.) His relationship with President Washington was friendly, but Washington rarely asked him for his counsel. All of this was frustrating to Adams, who was a man of action and not shy about letting his opinions be known. Adams cast 29 tie-breaking votes, a record that still stands today.

Presidency (1797-1801)

Washington's decision to retire from public life set the stage for the first partisan presidential election. Alexander Hamilton was the dominant leader of the Federalists. However he made many political enemies during his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury. The Federalists decided to run Adams as their presidential candidate and Thomas Pinckney for the office of vice-president. The Republicans of course favored Jefferson for president; they ran Aaron Burr of New York as vice-President. Adams won the mildly contested election of 1796, garnering 71 electoral votes to Jefferson's 68, and became president in his own right. Since electors did not indicate which office they were voting for, by coming in second to Adams, Jefferson became his vice-president. Their friendship had ended and they now struggled for control of the national agenda.

Adam's faced the challenge of having to succeed George Washington. He retained all of Washington's original cabinet members. Although some historians consider it a mistake, he believed that government officials should not be removed except for cause. Adams spent much of his term in Massachusetts, ignoring the details of patronage and communication that are essential to build a political base.

Foreign Affairs

Adams continued the Washington's policy of neutrality in the on going war between Britain and France, selling supplies to both sides. Federalists were pushing for a war against France and closer ties to Britian. Adams wanted peace, but was caught up in the storm of events.

The French were openly seizing American ships, leading to an undeclared war known as the Quasi-War of 1798-99. Adams sent diplomats to meet with the French Directory, only to be refused an audience and commercial relations were suspended. In 1798, the French demanded American diplomats pay huge bribes in order to see the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, which the diplomats rejected. The Jeffersonian Republicans, suspicious of Adams, demanded the documentation, which Adams released using X, Y and Z as codes for the names of the French diplomats. A wave of nationalist sentiment overwhelmed the U.S. Congress approved Adams' plan to organize the navy. Adams reluctantly signed the Alien and Sedition Act as a wartime measure.

The Federalists made major gains in the 1798 election, and Congress passed a law for a much-enlarged army. Nominally it was under the control of Washington; in reality Hamilton controlled the new army, and Adams was left a byestander.

In 1799, Adams moved to end the war with France. This angered hardline Federalists such as Alexander Hamilton, leading to an intraparty battle. Hamilton attacked Adams for his "ungovernable indiscretion" and "distempered jealousy". This, plus the unpopularity of the new taxes and perhaps also the Aliens and Sedition acts, weakened Adams.

Running for reelection

Jefferson spent much of his time as vice-president attacking Adams, even hiring journalists to write scurrilous editorials about the President. Federalists fought back by passing the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Alien Act was designed to prevent immigrants, who supported Jefferson, from gaining citizenship, and the right to vote; the Sedition Act was designed to stifle critics of Adams. However, the attempts backfired; when Congressman Matthew Lyons was prosecuted under the Sedition Act, he and the Republicans became national heroes. In the election of 1800, Jefferson overwhelmingly beat Adams.

The Adamses were the first residents of the White House. They moved there in the month of November, 1800. At the White House, President John Adams was said to be the first to display fireworks there.

Death

After Jefferson left office in 1809 he and Adams resumed their cordial friendship, and exchanged a series of highly insightful letters.

He died July 4, 1826 at the age of 90 in Quincy, Massachusetts only a few hours after the death of Jefferson. The day marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Only one signer of the Declaration (Charles Carroll of Carrollton) outlived him.[1].

Legacy

In a October 2000 survey of 132 prominent professors of history, law, and political science, President John Adams was grouped in the "Above Average" group, ranked 13th, with a mean score of 3.36 out of 5.00. [2]

It was John Adams whose quote has been inscribed upon the mantle in the White House dining room:

"I Pray Heaven to Bestow the Best Blessings on this house and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. Let none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof."[3]

Notable Quotes

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”

John Adams also said another time "Ask me not whether I am Protestant, Calvinistic or Armenian, as far as they are Christians, I wish to be a fellow disciple with them all." [4]

"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."[5]

Haraszti, Zoltan. John Adams and the Prophets of Progress. (1952). Adams's political comments on numerous authors

Kirk, Russell. "John Adams and Liberty under the Law" ch 3 of Kirk, The Conservative Mind: From Burke to Santayana (1953) online edition

Knollenberg, Bernard. Growth of the American Revolution: 1766-1775,(2003). Online edition.

Kurtz, Stephen G. The Presidency of John Adams: The Collapse of Federalism, 1795-1800 (1957). Detailed political narrative. online edition

McCullough, David. John Adams. (2002). Best-selling popular biography, stressing Adams's character and his marriage with Abigail over his ideas and constitutional thoughts. Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. excerpt and text search

Ryerson, Richard Alan, ed. John Adams and the Founding of the Republic (2001). Essays by scholars: "John Adams and the Massachusetts Provincial Elite," by William Pencak; "Before Fame: Young John Adams and Thomas Jefferson," by John Ferling; "John Adams and the 'Bolder Plan,'" by Gregg L. Lint; "In the Shadow of Washington: John Adams as Vice President," by Jack D. Warren; "The Presidential Election of 1796," by Joanne B. Freeman; "The Disenchantment of a Radical Whig: John Adams Reckons with Free Speech," by Richard D. Brown; "'Splendid Misery': Abigail Adams as First Lady," by Edith B. Gelles; "John Adams and the Science of Politics," by C. Bradley Thompson; and "Presidents as Historians: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson," by Herbert Sloan.

Thompson, C. Bradley. John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. (1998). Analysis of Adams's political thought; insists Adams was the greatest political thinker among the Founding Generation and anticipated many of the ideas in The Federalist.

White, Leonard D. The Federalists: A Study in Administrative History (1956), thorough analysis of the mechanics of government in 1790s

White, Morton. "Rights, Powers, and John Adams" in White, The Philosophy of the American Revolution (1978) pp 186+ online edition